Reunited
by detrametal
Summary: Piece 2 of 4. Kyoka Jirou has just reunited with Izuku for the first time since high school, and she finds so much has changed about him that she really doesn't know him any more.


**Two of 4 AU pieces dedicated to Izuku Interacting with people he hasn't been seen with all that much. So, I know I've done some mean things to Ochaco, but I promise in the other two that she'll be alive and happy. There is one idea that I tried to put in but I didn't have a place-Tamaki Amajiki as Aizawa's kid, they're personalities are so similar! Thanks to my beta OMG Pterodactyls  
**

The grocery store was…irritating, to say the least, to say the most it was a hell hole for those of even minor fame-for some reason the press loved to sit outside and ambush people with their purchases. Many got around it by ordering online or taking opaque bags.

Kyoka Jiro, bassist and vocalist of the _Sundered Numbers_ , scowled as she made her way in. It wasn't like this was a premier grocery store or anything but it was closest to her house (and being such, she was only in a t-shirt and jeans), a modest place though it was a bit close to some of the wealthier members of the country, like her producer's house and studio.

Things were normal until she saw someone sitting on the bench between the photo center and kid's play corner, it took her a moment before she gasped "Izuku Midoriya?"

The green-haired man's head shot up and he stared before smiling "Jiro! It's been a long time!"

She nodded "Sure has. So, what have you been up to?"

He rubbed the back of his neck modestly "Practicing law. By the way, I really liked your last album." Law-she remembered him talking about it, and by the suit he was wearing he must have been doing well.

She smiled, they were well known enough to get airplay but not anywhere near a mega band, "Thanks. Where's Ochaco? I'm still sorry I missed you guys wedding, but being injured on tour in another country…that was impossible to get out of."

He froze "Um…you didn't know…"

"Know what?" she blinked.

"Ochaco died a year ago."

"Huh?! What happened?"

"O-Oh, um, now's not a really good time to- "he was cut off as a young woman bodily flung herself onto him.

"Eri's on her way!" the woman said. Kyoka took a moment to study the woman, long blond hair was done in two buns and she was dressed in a very baggy sweater of equally baggy jeans.

"You got a new girl?" Kyoka asked, she tried not to judge but it seemed inappropriate, especially one so young.

Before he could answer an equally blond girl with a blue sundress, one she was sure was well over a year old walked out of the kid's corner and grabbed Izuku's hand.

The woman laughed "'New girl?' Eww! He's my dad!"

Now very surprised the musician looked at Izuku and tried to figure numbers backwards-what age would he have had to be when he got some chick knocked up?! Izuku mouthed the word 'adopted' and that got her to back off.

He glanced at his watch "Shoot, I'm sorry but I've got to get them home, Eri's got medicine she needs. Maybe we could meet up soon? I'm on vacation so I've got all week off."

Kyoka nodded "Uh, tomorrow at that little bakery on 5th? Say…10-ish?"

He smiled before putting a hand on the older girl's head "Sounds good. See you tomorrow!" it was weird to see him walking with kids…especially one that old.

Kyoka sighed and rubbed her face "Dead, huh…" she muttered. There was obviously a lot of catching up to do but she wasn't going to get answers standing around here.

* * *

"9:45, dammit, why didn't I give him my number?" the bassist hissed, from what she remembered Izuku always tried to be 15 minutes early. For the past half hour every time the bell above the door rang she looked up, but so far, he hadn't shown.

The bakery was a hole in the wall-tiny would have been a better word. Along the front wall were five booths, two on one side of the door and three on the other and about six feet beyond that was the glass case where all the food was and pretty much there was a small walkway for staff and the back wall with the ovens in the next room. Small but it had been doing brisk enough business to stay open.

That and their upside-down banana muffins were the best thing she had ever eaten.

Just before the minute changed Izuku walked in, the suit replaced by a blue long-sleeved collared sweater and jeans. A second later Kyoka wonder if she was underdressed, again with just a plain tee and jeans, only with a black leather jacket. He slid into the other side of the booth with a sigh "Sorry about cutting it close but my car started acting up as soon as I dropped the girls off at school."

 _That_ made sense, he was already considering himself late. That was the Izuku she knew "Don't worry about it. You wanna grab something to eat and take our time?"

As he nodded it sent his green hair bobbing comically "Sounds good."

She got a hot chocolate and three of her precious muffins while he ordered coffee and two croissants, one almond and one mixed berry. He was more interested in his drink at the moment and she wondered what time he got up, he already looked tired.

The silence wasn't comfortable but he broke it between bites of his breakfast "So how have you been, we sort of lost touch since high school."

He had gotten much better at small talk, that's for damn sure. "After graduation I went out of country to study music but when I got my degree I realized there was so much more out there that I really kinda figured it was a waste so I came back and started working with some music companies until I got the band together. That was almost four years ago, just really touring and recording since then." He nodded and took a sip of his coffee before she continued, "That's really all, being in a band took up a lot more time than I thought. You said you liked the last album, right? What was your favorite song? 'Pale rat'?"

It was the _Sundered Numbers_ most played song, for a rock band it was almost pop-ish. She thought that _every_ other song on that album was better, her favorite for instance was- "I liked 'Harvesting cyanide' personally."

"Really? Nobody really talks about that one." She muttered.

He nodded "As somebody who constantly worries about my kids it really speaks to me." He confirmed. "Sorry to ask but whatever happened to you and Yaoyorozu? You were dating for a long time…"

While it wasn't something she regretted it was a bit awkward "We broke up before I went overseas, she had been wanting to date Shoto. Thankfully we hadn't had sex yet or I wouldn't have been able to treat her like a sister." Realizing what she had just said she flushed and slapped a hand over her mouth.

Izuku was utterly unperturbed "That makes sense." was all he said as he took another sip of his coffee.

After her blood stopped flooding her face Kyoka returned "So what happened with you, and don't skip the important stuff!" she punctuated this by shooting a finger at him.

"That makes the story a whole lot longer." He chuckled.

"I've got time."

"Alright. You know Ochako and I were dating for a long time, after we graduated she went into aeronautics and space-she wanted to be an astronaut. I went to study law and both of us went to work for the government. Ochako couldn't have kids- "

"What?" Kyoka asked in shock.

He nodded "Yeah, we went to a lot of doctors but there wasn't a thing they could do. So after we got married we started looking at adopting. It was actually my first case-the first one I was in charge of. Uh, it was a local yakuza head and he was a bad man, he kidnapped a young woman and forced her to have his kids, the first was Himiko, he tried to make her a killer but she couldn't do it so he started beating her, and she got fascinated with blood. Then came Eri and with how frail she is he started beating her too. We got him put away but there was no way I could let anything else happen to them. We adopted them in short order. Sorry, that's really heavy."

She shook her head "I asked, though I am glad they ended up with someone like you."

"Things were going good." He continued, "Ochako went up into space twice and the girls were doing really well in school and adjusting to normal life better than we could hope for." Gazing down into the murky brown forlornly he continued "Ochako was happy with her job, and one of the best, seventeen people died in an accident. They were doing a test ignition and-from what I've been told there was a warning light that was supposed to be turned on ten minutes before ignition. The person didn't turn on that light."

Kyoka covered her mouth, such a senseless way to die. "How are you hanging on?" she asked in both shock and concern.

"When you have kids that rely on you…it was the biggest responsibility I could ever have. I couldn't leave them. They were just starting to recover." He mumbled into his cup.

Grasping at anything to liven up the conversation she almost yelled "Do the girls listen to the band?"

Several people stared at her before she ducked her head. With a small smile Izuku nodded "We all do. We listen to all kinds of music, but they do seem to favor your stuff."

"We were going do a photo shoot for the cover of our next album, do you think they would want to see?" she asked in a much quieter voice.

With a chuckle he responded with "If I told them I don't think I could stop them!" getting a laugh out of Kyoka as well.

"What time do you get off?" she asked as she searched her pockets for a pen, not finding one she asked "Uh, pen?"

Almost as a reflex Izuku pulled out a black titanium pen with two silver stripes running up the sides and turned the top until the tip popped out and handed it to her. Usually stuff like this didn't surprise her but this pen was probably the easiest writing tool she had ever used and it wrote beautifully. "Next week I don't have any major cases, so after 4:30-that way I can pick up the girls."

A soft _ping_ sounded and Izuku glanced at his phone with an equally soft "Pardon me." A relieved sigh came from him "Okay, my car's ready, apparently it was an easy fix."

"Good." She mirrored his sentiment "Here's my number, text me and I'll text you the time and place when we get it settled."

He looked slightly concerned "It won't bother you to wait until next week?"

Shaking her head, she waved it off "Naw, the others are out this week getting other stuff ready. It's fine."

"Only if you're sure." He reiterated, and when she nodded he sighed "Alright, I just don't want to bother you."

She laughed "I drag you out on your day off and you're saying you don't want to bother me?" he conceded the point with a small laugh and she stood up "Alright, I'll send you the place and time later. I've got an appointment, I didn't realize that we'd have eaten up so much time!"

Quick goodbyes were exchanged and they soon went their separate ways.

* * *

The band was stuck, it was around 4 and no real ideas for the cover had manifested themselves besides they wanted an actual photo instead of something else. The producer, Hizashi Yamada, wanted something with a sort of mysterious feel. Mina Ashido, the drummer, wanted something that showcased their solidarity as a band. The two guitarists didn't really have a preference besides Denki Kaminari wanted his face to be one of the focal points and Mashirao Ojiro wanted the entire band on to have equal play.

Inspiration struck and Kyoka stepped out to call Izuku, his brisk greeting of "Midoriya" didn't put her off.

"Hey Izuku, do you still have that stupidly harsh training regime?" she asked seemingly out of nowhere.

She heard the radio go down to nothing "Kinda? My boss believes that when we're stuck on a case that physical activity can get you out of the rut so he put a full gym up in the top floor…and a dark room so we can sleep, but that's another thing altogether." he wasn't following but she wasn't planning for him to.

If you had told her that she would ask this question even an hour ago she would have laughed in your face "How much do you lift?"

"No idea…" he asked with a lilt on the 'a' that portrayed his curiosity.

Her smile was growing by the second, she had no doubt he could do it "You got some normal clothes with you?" he made an affirmative noise and she smiled "Cool, need your help with something."

Curiosity was gone replaced by the focused man she knew could rip any test apart "Give me twenty."

Yamada, or as he liked to call himself, Present Mic, asked her as she sauntered into the room "Got an idea?"

"Hell yeah, Izuku's on his way and I think he'd be perfect…" she answered.

Mina bounced up and down "It's been too long! It's almost like a class reunion!"

What walked through the door surprised everyone. Izuku looked like an entirely different person. Black leather shoes impeccably matched the depth of color on his suit broken by a white shirt with a blood red tie, but his face was what got them, eyes impossibly sharp with his hair gelled flat against his head and tied in a small ponytail.

Mina summed it up perfectly when she whispered "Damn."

Himiko and Eri were behind, and in matching school uniforms no less-the only difference was Himiko's sweater was longer and tied with a blue ribbon while Eri's didn't have a ribbon at all.

Suddenly the sharp eyes softened to his usual look "Hey, sorry we're late, traffic was backed up on Main."

"Got the clothes?" Kyoka reminded and Izuku lifted a backpack "Toilet's second door on the left."

Himiko and Eri were star struck, gawking at the group who largely seemed to be gawking back. Kyoka had told them about the kids but seeing them was entirely different.

When Izuku got back Mashirao, who worked out daily, could only saw "Wow dude!" in true form the green haired man now looked entirely different, with his hair out of the band but still gelled it framed his face nicely and show off the depth of its color, his shoes now light gray with an orange 'X' across the tops blended well with his faded jeans.

His torso, as she expected, was what had drawn the comment, the white shirt fitted across his broad torso before cutting off and exposing arms that could have, she assumed, thrown a bowling ball like a frisbee.

Present Mic, who was also acting as the photographer, pulled Izuku into the position Kyoka had described to him. He stood by the background-at the moment, just a green screen, and asked him quite bluntly "Pick up Mashirao."

Having not really had a chance to even greet the other members Izuku smiled as the guitarist walked up "Hi! Not really how I thought I'd see you again but hey, life moves in weird ways."

Letting loose a chest rumbling laugh Ojiro replied "Yeah, that it does. Nice to see you though."

Izuku grabbed the slightly skinnier man by his shoulders before looking at Present Mic "How high?"

"As high as you can!" the spindly man replied throwing his arms up in the air. Eri and Himiko giggled both at the comment and at the weird looked that Izuku and Ojiro gave each other before it went to the producer.

With a shrug Izuku said "Okay." And lifted the man until his arms were outstretched. No problems.

The other members, who had been talking amongst themselves, whistled at the feat. Setting the other man down Izuku looked at Present Mic who picked his jaw up off the floor and stumbled around "Oka-well, I guess-didn't expec…alright. Kyoka, get over here."

When she responded the producer turned Izuku around and curled one arm up like he was trying to show off before pulling out a stool and getting the bassist to face the camera sitting on Izuku's bicep and having Mina mirror it on the other side.

Denki asked, "You getting tired?"

The response wasn't what anyone expected "I'm fine." Concern, however, was dripping from his features "But are you ladies eating okay? You're so light…"

Mina teared up and put her hand on top of Izuku's head "Bless you." she nearly sobbed-leaving Izuku entirely confused and everyone else laughing.

Seeing as how Izuku's strength was entirely different than what they were expecting the rest of the picture was set in quick order, Izuku was facing the back while Mina and Kyoka were sitting on his biceps smiling while Izuku's outstretched arms were at a 15-degree angle holding stout ropes loops that Deni and Ojiro were sitting in.

The light flashed several times and after being set down gently the band rushed to the computer. Denki exhaled sharply "Dude, you're built in ways that shouldn't exist." After looking at the other guitarist he continued "But it looks good. Cut, print, call it good?" he asked the others.

He was surprised when Mina shook her head "It's good, but it could be better." A devious smile was on her face as she yelled "Izuku! Get over here!" and as soon as he was in arm's reach she nearly ripped his shirt off. She let out an appreciative whistle while Kyoka flushed bright red along with Mina's target.

The scene was recreated with a shirtless Izuku and quickly got the seal of approval.

While Present Mic was uploading the files and Izuku was putting on his shirt, Ojiro asked "So does anybody have plans after this?"

Present Mic nodded "Dinner date with the missus."

In various ways the other members of the band gave a negative.

Izuku looked at his girls who tilted their heads before saying with a steely voice "Yes, you do."

Everyone froze before Himiko asked "Huh? What's going on Dad?"

"All of you are going to my house for a real meal."

Mina blinked several times "You're still on about that?"

"Yes. I'm going to the grocery store and getting more food. Give me about 30 minutes and I'll meet you at the house." He gave them the address and ignored all their arguments.

The band walked out and to their respective cars before Mina stopped Kyoka "Come to my house, we'll drop off your car and we can go together."

She didn't realize she was walking into a trap.

As soon as she got in Mina's purple VW bug she got blasted with so many questions she couldn't keep up "Whoa, whoa! Slow down!"

Mina physically grabbed Kyoka by her shirt and started shaking the other woman "WHY DID'T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE DATING IZUKU AND THAT HE WAS HOT?!"

"I'm not and I didn't know!" Kyoka replied trying to escape both her friend's hands and the dizziness.

Mina growled but started the car "The only reason I'm not shaking you more is Izuku said 30 minutes and it's almost that. So why did he come if you weren't dating?"

"We met up at the grocery store-chance meeting. I ended up asking about Ochaco, I didn't know she was dead. At that point I figured there was a lot of catching up to do so I asked to meet up with him later. We met the next day and we got to talking and he told me the girls really liked the band so I offered to have them come talk with us. I had no idea about the photo thing until we were talking." She explained hoping to placate her friend.

Mina made a clicking sound "Well, I won't hold this against you for now. But we need to talk about your communication skills."

"What do you mean?" Kyoka asked as she typed the address into her phone.

Blowing a raspberry Mina rolled her eyes before flicking her turn signal on "You're so attentive to the girls you might as well be a second mother to them, don't try to deny it, at the shoot you were taking care of them every moment Izuku had his eyes off them and you were the one who extended the offer."

"So? Just because I like the kids doesn't mean I'm dating Izuku."

"But you don't like kids, and the way you blushed and stared when Izuku's shirt came off tells me you're doing more than just looking at the eye candy." Mina blurted.

Kyoka rolled her eyes at her friend "Just because I'm not as shameless as you!" which got a laugh out of both girls.

Several seconds of silence passed before Mina pulled to the red light and offered quietly "Look, girl, I've known you for quite a while now and I can tell when you're interested in someone. You're giving me all the signs that you're into Izuku."

Kyoka was silent as she evaluated everything about Izuku. Mina noticed and didn't interrupt. Only a few minutes from the house the bassist stated "I don't think it's a crush on him or anything but there is part of me that at least wants to take care of him for a bit, I mean he did lose his wife. I think the girls are adorable and they're the only reason Izuku is still smiling, so I think they need to be treated well."

"Not what I wanted to hear but those are some good reasons." Mina agreed, albeit reluctantly. Then a rather vicious smirk appeared on her face, "Maybe I should try to date him, he's hot and has a great job, and is a family man!"

Ignoring the subtle spike of… _something_ in her gut Kyoka smiled "No way, you don't want to settle down let alone have the responsibility of kids like that yet."

Mina made a face "True…but the girls are angels." Kyoka wordlessly nodded as the turned onto the little-known street where Izuku's home was.

The building that the lawyer called home was large and extremely nice, two stories with a neatly made rock garden in the front with a turnabout that was large enough that cars could park on one side and other vehicles could pass easily, an attached garage sat to the side with the door closed. Mina noticed Denki's car-a black mustang with lightning bolts racing stripes was in front of Ojiro's car-a sensible blue Nissan.

The inside was as beautiful as the exterior, the entrance was slate tile with cream walls and ceiling that mirrored the color of the tile. Mina let out a whistle as they moved down the hall, six or seven feet that emptied out into a living room with a plush white carpet and black leather furniture with a large flat-screen TV on the wall immediately to the left. Himiko, now dressed in baggy shorts and a t-shirt that had obviously been Izuku's at one point waved them over to a large open kitchen area that was state of the art, most of the appliances were a clean silver that boldly stood out from the black marble countertops. Eri was atthe bar watching her dad cook with Himiko and the two guys. The bar held six stools and seemed to be where most of the time was spent if the two backpacks set on the hooks where the bar jutted from the living room wall was any indication. Denki and Ojiro were catching up with Izuku.

Ojiro asked as he leaned his elbows on the counter "Which office do you work for?"

Eri proudly cut in "Daddy is the second most important lawyer in the country!"

Denki perked up "What?"

Shaking a pan vigorously Izuku poured water in and watched it while explaining "I'm Toshinori Yagi's assistant…kinda."

At the mention of the Minister of Justice Mina couldn't help it "What!?"

Izuku smiled "Hi, glad you guys found it okay!" getting back on topic he continued, "Yagi mostly works on policy and stuff so I'm left to my own cases but on the very, very, _very,_ rare instance Yagi decides to take on a case all but the most urgent of my cases are put on hold and I work as his assistant."

Even more impressed than she was before Kyoka smiled as sat down on the plush bar chair "So what are you cooking?"

Rattling off the list effortlessly as he moved from the skillet he was working with to a large 24-inch wok and putting it on a large burner made just for the wok off the side of the stove "Triple fried rice, Indian style fish curry, stir-fried vegetables, braised chili beef, peanut salad, pork belly soup, twice cooked bok choy and spinach, and fried chicken."

Everyone was drooling even before Eri looked at her dad with the biggest eyes anyone there had ever seen "And for dessert?"

Hiving a heartfelt smile Izuku reassured "And I've made a very special fruit yogurt and cendol"

After a moment of silence Denki looked at the lawyer and said, "I'd give up a diet for this."

"So easily." Mina reaffirmed.

It turned out that Izuku was as good of a chef as he was a lawyer.

* * *

In the few weeks since they had been forcibly given a meal by Izuku the band had become close friend with him and his girls and often spent Saturday with them. Kyoka had often bantered with Mina about not being able to find a man that could cook like Izuku and it was starting to become less and less banter. For each of the members of the band Izuku was becoming invaluable-a best friend and companion.

One Thursday started a change. Kyoka called Izuku while he was at work. Knowing who was calling Izuku answered "Hello?"

A slight sniffle was heard "Izuku! I don't know what we're going to do! This could end us and we just got picked up for Japan Open Air!"

"Kyoka, calm down, what's going on?"

Ignoring him she continued "I-I can't see a way out! What are we supposed to do?"

Putting steel in his voice, he ordered "Calm down." Everyone in the office went to attention before following the order and relaxing, then realizing he wasn't talking to them. Kyoka took several deep breaths "Okay, I need you to tell me what's going on. Slowly."

The vocalist whimpered "We just got a notice. Another band is suing us saying that we ripped off one of their songs. We didn't but we can't just pay what they're asking either-it's too much!"

"Put me on speaker." A slight static came over the line before Izuku could hear Denki screaming and Ojiro trying to calm a crying Mina "Alright." All the noise stopped "I need all of you to listen to me. I want all of you to get in Ojiro's car and pick up the girls, they should be getting out soon. Then come here and I'll see what I can do-not as one of the Ministry of Justice's employees but as a lawyer."

Denki growled "Great, but we can't hire you!"

"Pro Bono." He replied.

Nearly a month later the courtroom was nearly empty. On the prosecution's side of the room the four members of the accusing band and their councilor sat at the table while behind them was the head of their recording company. Across the room the five members of the _Sundered Numbers_ sat with Izuku while the head of their own label-Mr. Nezu was behind them.

The prosecutor had pounded on the similarities between the songs that Izuku didn't hear and how the _Sundered Numbers_ album came out two months after the other band had released.

Kyoka was a nervous mess, Izuku hadn't really spoken to them after that day they had gone to his office. She glanced at Ojiro who was calm as could be and tapped his hand as she whispered, "How are you calm right now?"

Leaning over he murmured "Because it's Izuku." That calmed her and she watched as he took the floor.

The Judge asked "Midoriya, I'm surprised to see you here representing for a case like this, and as charity if I've been told correctly."

Replying very evenly Izuku responded "I believe that this is a case we can't afford to lose." He said motioning to the band, "And yes, I'm doing this case Pro Bono because of an idea that the Minister of Justice implanted in one of his landmark cases 'Artists must be free to express themselves without fear of repercussion within the bounds of their art.' And this is the first case like this while I've been working at the Ministry."

The other lawyer stood up and snarked "He's doing it because they're friends! That should get him thrown out!"

The Judge harshly reprimanded "Councilor, you will control yourself." Turning to Izuku he asked, "Is there a conflict of interest I should be aware of?"

"Your Honor, do you believe I would take a case that I could not represent? Under Article ?, regulation /, I am allowed to represent them in non-criminal cases where the total monetary value is under the amount stated."

Gesturing at one of the workers the Judge had the woman run and grab a copy of the rules and regulations and found the exact place before nodding "He is correct."

Kyoka was paying so much attention to Izuku's words that she was totally oblivious to everything else "Thank you, Your Honor." Stepping forward and buttoning the second button on his ash grey suit he took a deep breath before starting.

"Your Honor, this case is based on the belief that these two songs are similar. Of the five experts of musical copyright I managed to get ahold of, here are their signed statements," he walked over and handed the Judge the papers, "As you can see three of them found no significant similarities, one found a less than 10% overlap and would not attempt a lawsuit. The final also wouldn't attempt a lawsuit but did note that the sections in question also had similarities to yet another song, noted," he said gesturing to the paper, "That is now under public domain."

"These are members of various musical boards?" the Judge questioned.

Before Izuku could respond the other councilor snorted "Aizawa, if they were real, wouldn't they have shown up?"

The man lazily glared back "Councilor Monoma, here in the Courtroom you will address everyone present with the correct level of respect and follow the procedure you have studied." Turning back to Izuku he sighed "Continue."

"Thank you, your Honor. There is also the issue of the date. UA Entertainment and Heroics Studios have different methods of keeping track of the exact publication and submission dates. Heroics Studios has said the submission date was either May 3rd or 4th, allowing for a minor delay in the receival that Heroics has been trying to fix-in other words the submission date is the only recorded date in the system." He turned on the projector and showed a screen shot of the Heroics Studios records.

"On the other hand, UA Entertainment has a far more detailed system. Whenever a producer works with a band on a new song it-the company laptop he or she must use, records the exact date of creation, then keeps two logs- one of every time the file is opened and the other of every time it is edited. From beginning to submission can be a four to five-page document but the simple answer is that the song in question by the _Sundered Numbers_ was submitted back in January, long before the May submission of Heroics Studios."

Aizawa studied the next slide-the submission of the UA band's song was January 27th, 4:58:33 pm. "The question becomes why wait nearly a year to release the album then? Did it take that long to finish?"

"No, your Honor, the disk release was late because no one could agree on the cover art." Izuku explained.

"You honestly expect us to believe that they waited on a _picture_!?" Monoma screeched.

All goodwill gone Aizawa warned "Monoma, another outburst like that and I will have you removed from the courtroom. Are we clear?" it was an order, not a question.

Monoma, sufficiently chastised nodded as he sat down.

Izuku nodded his thanks to the Judge before answering "No, I expect you to believe my witness. I'd like to call Mashirao Ojiro to the stand."

Surprised by the move Ojiro made his way up and swore his oath before he was pinned by Midoriya's steel eyes "Ojiro, you are under oath, do you know what this means?"

"Yes sir." The blond immediately responded.

"So you will not lie to me?"

"No sir."

"Good." Relaxing a bit Izuku continued "So if you would walk us through the process of how you choose your album art, if it would help start with your first album.

Ojiro took a minute to gather his thoughts and started slowly "With the first album-first two, actually, we knew we wanted the picture to mirror the atmosphere of the album and we spent three weeks stuck between the two pictures and eventually we decided to use the unused art for the second album. The third was in reverse since we had the picture first-we were bouncing the idea around while Kyoka-sorry, Jiro was in the hospital for a minor accident. For four we were stuck and ended up spending a month just trying to get ideas and we ended up doing two different arts, one for the normal one disk release and the deluxe edition had different cover art but it was a two-disk case so between disk one and two we put the original art. This one…this one we didn't have any real ideas because the songs on this one are so varied. In the end we went through some hundred ideas and I think like 50 pictures until we found one we could agree on."

Moving to deliberation the Judge kept them waiting for only 15 minutes before giving the verdict "The song in question is not similar enough to judge as copyright infringing."

* * *

Kyoka watched as the reporter stepped into the room, she was comfortable on the couch in the office-UA's press branch wanted an interview with the band and she was the last to go. Nejire Hado smiled at her "Hi! My name is nejire Hado and I'm really glad to be interviewing you!"

"Uh, thanks? I didn't realize people thought I was that interesting…" Kyoka said.

Hado laughed "Well at least your music is." Sitting at her desk and shuffling some papers Hado frowned "How rude of me, did you want something to drink?" at the shaking head she asked "Okay, would you mind if I skipped the boring questions?"

"'Boring'? Like what?"

"Usual profile stuff." The woman replied as she tapped away on her computer before putting a large microphone between them.

"I'd hate to have to answer all those…" Kyoka replied honestly causing Hado to giggle as she shuffled through a set of notecards.

"Dive right in?"

"Dive right in."

"So, the one question we get asked the most is 'are you in a relationship?' now personally I don't care if you don't want to answer but it's up to you."

"Uh…kinda?"

That got Hado's attention, visibly perking up the woman said "Okay, if you say it that way I've got to know!"

Kyoka chuckled "Alright. Well, I managed to reconnect with an old high school pal, last I heard of him was nearly four years ago he got married. About six months ago I run into him and it slips that his wife died. At that point I realized I had missed a lot so we decided to catch up…and last week we had a date…or at least I hope it was one-we just caught dinner together but he left his kids with his mom for the night."

Hado tapped her fingers to her chin "Well I'm certainly not going to publish that so we'll just say 'stepping into one, one foot at a time'?"

The singer laughed "Much better than what I said."

The interviewer glanced at her screen "Okay, I've got to ask, everyone else has given me just tidbits about it and told me to ask you, I heard that Izuku Midoriya defended you at the lawsuit…which nobody really told me anything about that either."

Kyoka responded with a grunt "That…it's a bit more complicated than everyone thinks. So the other band has four people, only one of them really thought the songs sounded alike but he wasn't going to do anything. It was their lawyer, the guy in question's step-brother, who essentially pushed them into it. Even Vlad was against it." Vlad was the founder of Heroics and made his name in movies-even now he occasionally played, only in supporting roles for movies he thought had a chance.

"Wow." Hado whispered "So why did Izuku defend you guys?"

"Mostly because he believes in the arts, just like his mentor." Taking a minute Kyoka also said "There's some obscure rule he invoked, but the other part is we're friends. He's the guy I reconnected with." Hado's eyebrows rose as high as possible with that "Little known secret is the _Sundered Numbers_ aren't exactly swimming in cash. So I reconnected and then we get this thing a bit later. I panicked and called him-only because he's the only guy I know of who knows anything about lawsuits and the next thing I know we're in his office answering his questions and boom. Done."

It took the other woman a moment to comprehend what was said before echoing her earlier statement "Wow…there's not a lot I can say about that…"

"Move on?" Kyoka tried to help.

"Move on." Hado agreed "Well, I've asked every member about their favorite and worst memories with the band, typically I've gotten one about drinking for the first and two for the second, one about an argument and one they keep telling me to ask you-and only if you want to tell."

With an ironic smile Kyoka nodded "I know which ones they're talking about and I'd have to agree. The first one-the good one starts when we just got started as a band, months, and none of us are real heavy drinkers. We got invited to be an opener for a small little festival outside the city-we go every year now because we remember it so fondly-anyways, so we go out there and the headliners were in the crowd listening and insisted on having a drink with us, so we're in the back talking and drinking and not really paying attention to how much we're drinking until Denki tries to stand up and falls over. Ojiro wobbles over to help him up-poor Denki has this stupid face and he's waving around his arms with thumbs up trying to tell us he's fine…it was kinda one of those 'we were really drunk' moments mixed with the 'you had to be there' type."

Hado chuckled but stopped "Hold up, sorry, something just occurred to me. So you went to high school with Izuku, right? But you went to / and he went to \\\\\ right? \\\\\ is a big name high school that costs a lot to get into, so which one is right?"

 _That_ was news to Kyoka "I can tell you right now Izuku has never said he went to \\\\\ because-well, just ask him. We both went to / and whoever told you otherwise is lying."

"Oh." Was all the other could say before waving it away "Back on track, bad memories."

"The first one started almost right after we signed with UA. We were doing a local show, we had just finished and I left to get some aspirin, when I get back Denki is acting…off. For about a week he wouldn't talk to me and just got more and more confrontational until things hit a boiling point when we were practicing-there was lots of yelling."

"What was it?"

"While I was gone that night, someone told Denki we were really good, and that it was a shame that I was getting paid so much more than him. It ended when I showed him my paycheck-we were all getting the exact same. It was in our contract and everyone was abiding by it. We nearly broke up because of a stupid argument."

When Kyoka finished she moved from leaning back in the sofa to slouching forward with her elbows on her knees and her chin resting in her palms. Hado could see the internal debate "You don't have to tell me. It's your choice."

The bassist exhaled slowly and with total control "I'll tell you but I want every member of the band to see the entire publication before you print. Deal?" and she held out a hand.

"Deal." Hado said resolutely and took the proffered hand.

"This ain't easy. Two months ago, we went on tour with the band that sued us, trying to show people there wasn't any bad blood. We did one hell of a tour, 31 days and we only got like five off, we started with a local then went to Hawaii, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Canada, Iceland, across Western Europe, into Africa then Russia and China before seeing "The Land Down Under" before coming back for one more local show to end it. The place we were playing is one of our-my personal favorite venues. They serve drinks and are very responsible-they have cameras everywhere and the security room has two guards at all times. We had just finished playing and putting away our stuff, everyone was inside having a good time and watching the other bands when I stepped out for a moment."

Kyoka shuddered and Hado stepped out from behind her desk to sit next to Kyoka "I was grabbed from behind, he put a hand over my mouth so hard I thought my teeth were going to come out. His other arm pinned my arms to my sides. H-he licked my neck and told me he was going to take me home forever and ever-told me he 'loved me'. I fought but he was dragging me and suddenly I felt a massive thump and was let go."

By this point Hado had her arms around the singer and was holding her tightly, Kyoka exhaled harshly-things were easier after that part "Inside somebody had a seizure, that's why they weren't in the office. Izuku had come by to welcome us back but couldn't find parking in the front. He saw what was happening and knocked the shit out of the guy-broke his jaw and nearly crushed his orbital socket. I guess I went into shock because next thing I know I'm at the police station talking to an officer while Izuku's sitting next to me. That's a blur, really."

Gripping Hado's hand lightly she spoke with no more hesitation "Izuku somehow called the others and we all went to his house and sat around for several hours-the last thing I wanted was to be alone. When everyone was getting tired I was about to go home with Mina-thank god I don't have pets." She suddenly chuckled. "Poor things would starve, anyways…but Izuku's girls said she was staying. I didn't argue so we piled into Izuku's bed. I was protected by three little monsters." In trying to smother her relieved chuckles they turned into giggles.

"What do you mean?" the interviewer asked, now totally confused.

"You know the guy who was on the cover of our last album? _Hunting for Familiarity_? That was Izuku, no tricky lighting or special effects. That's all him. On top of that he's qualified to teach three or four martial arts-on an armed forces level, not to mention he's teaching the girls, Eri-who's eight, I've seen her flip Izuku over her shoulder-some martial arts thing but yeah, she's a little monster…and I only use that term for people I love, let's get that straight."

Now a bit more amused than she thought she would be Hado asked "And the other girl?"

"Himiko is 13 but she's very mature for her age, anyways, she's the Junior Miss Japan Knife Throwing Champion two years running. She could put a knife in a fly in a dark room."

Hado didn't mean to say it but it slipped out "Sounds like sleeping beside two German Shepherds would be less safe."

Kyoka laughed "Yeah."

Hado asked a few other questions but they weren't nearly as interesting, as she was wrapping things up she asked a question that had started nagging her "Would you mind if I tied this interview to one with Midoriya?"

There wasn't any indication that this was coming so Kyoka was totally blindsided but it made a great deal of sense "Yeah, he's never been interviewed in any way like this. It'll be good to get the _real_ story of him, Wikipedia's got almost all of it wrong."

"Really?"

"Really."

* * *

"Nejire Hado." The young intern said before leading the young lady to a comfortable and sensible office on the top floor.

Her subject wasn't behind his desk, nor was he in one of the two chairs in front of the tanned wooden behemoth. No, he was on the left side of his office (that was hidden behind the door) sitting on one of two leather sofas with a small coffee table between them. The assistant knocked on the open door before motioning her in and closing it behind her. Izuku immediately stood up and smiled "Miss Hado, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Shaking his hand, she smiled back "The pleasure is all mine."

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Coffee if you have it, a touch of sugar please." She responded sitting down.

As he moved to the small floating counter on the other side of the room he laughed "We always have coffee, this building runs on it."

After he settled himself in Hado turned on her recorder and set it on the table "First of all thank you for agreeing to this interview."

"No problem. I haven't ever had an interview so anything I can do to help clear up the misconceptions I'll do."

Nodding to herself Hado jotted something on her notepad "I've been informed by Jiro that almost everything on you that's public is wrong."

"It is? I've never looked." He said, puzzled.

Hado found herself fighting back a giggle "I have to say, you're a lot different than when I've seen your court recordings."

"Blame that on my mentor, he said 'In the courtroom you must be totally in control, nothing will disturb your calm and your willpower will not be contested.' It's the guidelines that I've worked my whole life for."

"Really? Whole life?"

"Yes, it's a bit of a twisting tale."

Finding him just as interesting as Kyoka made him out to be, she smiled "Sir, I would love to hear the story."

"If you insist."

"I do, I do."

"My family was never very wealthy. My mother's parents disowned her for marrying so young, she was barely out of high school, and my father and his side of the family…well, I've never really known them. Everything started when I was four, my father left-one day just said he was going to work and never came back. I later found out a few months later he sent my mother a letter saying he was in Juarez, Mexico with a new girlfriend, my mother hid a lot of things that I wasn't ready for. A lot of things changed for us now that my mom was having to be the sole provider for us. Thankfully, she worked for a good business, they hired her on to work nights-11 to 7. First, she was just a cashier but they recognized her potential so they wanted to send her back to school to be…I forget what they called it but it's essentially something like a pharmacy tech but it's not. They worked out a deal and my mom took online courses, got certified and got the job. We found a new dynamic I'd wake up within a few minutes of her getting home, we'd have a meal and she'd sleep while I was at school, meaning we spent most of our time together."

Taking a sip of his tea Izuku said quietly "You'll have to forgive me, I'm not used to talking about myself so much." The light blush on his cheeks made Hado smile.

"It's alright. This is the stuff that shaped you to this." She gestured at the room as a whole "It's very interesting."

"If you say so." When she nodded he continued "Alright, where was I…oh yeah. My mother got the job and when I was six? Yeah, six, a man staggers into the store demanding some medication, my mom said no, it was both her job and responsibility. Apparently, after she denied him, he went across the street to a gas station and killed someone. Mom found herself in court because he alleged that when she didn't give him the medicine it made him do it. I was too young to know all of what was going on, but I know there was a lot of big things happening, jail time and losing her certification and losing custody of me. There was a set of circumstances that I don't remember that had me sitting behind my mom in the courtroom. My mom looked ready to cry as the prosecution laid out their argument."

The heavy look on his face faded and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly "Then two things happened that set me on becoming a lawyer, hell or highwater. First thing was my mom's lawyer-well, really the lawyer for the company because the man was suing them as a whole, he stands up and sighs before saying, and I'll never forget it, 'This is stupid. We have a man who killed someone blaming a woman who didn't give him a prescription only medication.' Every line of tension in my mom just disappeared."

He stopped again and stared into his tea before downing it and pouring more from the small pot on the table. She waited a moment before stating "Your mother is important to you."

A small smile graced his face "Yes, and I couldn't be more proud of her. She's done a lot for quite a few people and she's been a role model for several young women in the community."

Hado smiled "I think I would like to meet her, but that's for another time. Today I'm here about you."

Izuku nodded before easing back into it "A few days after my mom was proven innocent I wrote a letter to the Ministry, and in particular Toshinori Yagi, asking how to become a lawyer. I got a standard letter back 'Thank you, study hard, law school' that sort of stuff. Then came the chance meeting of a thousand years-I was walking home from school when I came across an emaciated man, it was hard to tell his age but he didn't look good. When I got closer I recognized him as the very man I had sent a letter to."

Gaping in awe Hado sputtered "W-how…wait, that would have to be right after he was attacked…"

Izuku nodded "Only a few days after he was dismissed from the hospital. As you know, in response to one of his cases he was attacked-quite literally he was hit by a car and it did a lot of damage forcing large portions of both organs and muscles to be removed. I was so shocked I was, I'm told, nearly whispering. I told him I knew who he was and as I helped him to a bench I told him about the letter. He vaguely remembered it because he thought it was from a high schooler. We talked to each other as I took him to the only place I knew where he might get some attention-home. Mom talked with him for several hours before she called a car to pick him up but I was told that he was very interested in me and that they would keep in touch."

"Wait…was this right before he started the scholarships?" Hado questioned.

"It was part of it. Until then people like me were just numbers to him-he never had contact with those living without the means to go to a university. Having that thrust into his face changed it for him, all those numbers had faces, stories and loved ones. He started the scholarships for those who could not pay because over 1,000 people in Japan wanted to go into law but lacked the funds." He replied evenly before continuing "I didn't have too much time to think about things after that because the next week we got another call. From my mother's family. When my father left Mom had called to let them know, but would not move back and, from what little I can gather, that made my grandmother withhold any other help. My grandmother was dying of cancer, she was the matriarch of the family, and between her and my grandfather she was the one who wore the pants. She hated me because to her I represented why my mom didn't move back and I was part of the man who stole her daughter away in the first place."

"That must have been rough." Hado muttered to herself, unaware that he had heard her commentary until he agreed.

"It was, but thankfully it was short. My mother reconnected with her mother only a few days before she passed on. My grandfather, on the other hand, I loved dearly. Shortly before my grandmother died he pulled Mom and I aside and told us that no matter what he loved us and would help if he could. He had a bit of money, he was the author of the 'Gran Torino' books."

"What." Hado interrupted "You mean to say that your grandpa wrote _THE_ greatest superhero books of the past century?!" The books in question were about an old, retired, incredibly short superhero who was pressed back into service because of a lack of heroes, he was paired up with several young sidekicks throughout the series and on top of being a crotchety old man to begin with he was forced to deal with modern kids on a normal basis forcing him to confront modern trends.

"Yes, although Torino was modeled after him for the comics."

"What do you mean?" she asked, now even more excited to be interviewing him.

"Torino was supposed to be quite a bit different, physically. He was supposed to be bald, much rounder, large hooked nose, and hunched back, and much older, actually closer to his nineties. That was the books, when Grampa got the comic deal he worked closely with the artists on everything but the art, he really couldn't draw. In honor of him, they decide to make the hero look like him."

"And somehow perfected the 'get off my lawn' look while they were at it." She giggled.

With a small entertained smile, he retorted "That's actually how he looked."

She giggled again before taking a deep breath "Okay, that's pretty far off topic, what do you say we get back?"

Nodding Izuku took a deep breath "So after meeting my grandfather things got better. I finally had another person who was there for me. He was the second person to tell me that I could be a lawyer _and mean it._ The teachers at school were always saying it but it didn't feel sincere. I stayed on top of my grades as much as I could until I graduated high school. I got a letter instructing me to go to the Ministry building for an interview. Yagi met me outside and told me what was going to happen, he had recused himself from picking scholarship recipients this year because he told others he was personally close to one of the candidates, and that was-and is true, several times a month we would speak and he would eat at Mom's. So, I went through the interview and got the scholarship. That's really all I have as far as how I became a lawyer."

Hado queried "What happened to your grandpa and your father?"

"Grampa passed away several years ago. After he pulled one last bet on us."

"Huh?" she muttered.

"One lesson that we learned very quickly was never bet against him. Somehow it would always end up with him winning. After my first wife and I got married we went to visit him, several of his friends had started bugging him about final arrangements and he told me 'I won't die until I see my great-grandkids.' I had to tell him that she couldn't have kids and he answers back with 'We'll see…' sure enough I adopted my daughters and a month after they meet him he passed away. My father…besides that postcard we didn't hear anything from him until recently, he called trying to reconnect, but it turns out he just wanted money. He never had any real want to see me or my girls."

Hado let out a long breath "Wow…I guess I didn't realize how much there was to this story-I mean, we just got to how you got into law school! If I could ask if we had some more interviews?"

Izuku stood as she did and shook her hand "Of course."

* * *

Things were a mess, not in the bad way though, just a lot of people in the same place trying to get things straightened up. Inko frowned weakly "D-do you think I look okay…?"

Eri smiled at her brightly "You look so pretty Granma!"

Himiko right behind her "Yeah, really good."

Izuku was in another corner with a blond trio, the elder man and woman had their hands on the younger man's shoulder. The woman asked "Is it really okay for us to be here?"

With conviction Izuku smashed their concerns "You are as much my daughters' grandparents as my mother and as much my brother as you are Ochaco's. You are always welcome at my house and I will drag you into my family picture."

Ochaco's brother, Mirio, grabbed Izuku and hugged him tightly. He had wanted to be part of Eri and Himiko's lives and now his brother-in-law was giving him blessing to do so.

A blond man stepped into the room and threw his hands up enthusiastically "Hello! I am the magnificent Yuga Aoyma, and I will make your picture look fantastic!"

Eventually everyone was wrangled in front of the camera "Yes, mademoiselle, if you would step a hair to your left? Perfect, if you two would follow her…excellent!" everyone was in highly formal attire, except one person who had ad lib-ed a bit due to…circumstances. Ochaco's brother and parents were standing in the left corner. "Miss…Inko, was it? You look simply divine!" he gushed getting the woman standing in the middle to smile at him, Kyoka's parents smiled at Inko while they moved to the right.

"Young ladies! If you would please kneel on those cushions? Thank you. Sir. If you could please kneel beside…yes, please put your hands on her shoulders. Perfection!" the shutter snap echoed several times before Aoyma pointed above him "Alright, here is your picture!"

Every jaw fell.

It was perfect for them. Standing across the back was Ochaco's family on the left with Inko in the middle then Kyoka's parents. Izuku was on one knee and Eri leaned against his side while Himiko leaned against Kyoka's chair. Izuku's hands were on Kyoka's shoulders and her left hand reached up to grab his where two matching gleams of light marked the simple bands. Kyoka herself though, was beyond radiant- the white gown did wonders for both her complexion and her growing stomach, only a month left before the newest member of their family showed his face.


End file.
